


You Were Right

by Queen (ramble)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Awesome Natasha Romanov, Awesome Pepper Potts, Canon Compliant, Comfort, F/M, Friendship, Love, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Nebula & Tony Stark Friendship, Nebula is mentioned, Pepper Potts Feels, Pregnancy, Protective Pepper Potts, Recovery, Rhodey gets a single line, Spoilers, Steve gets a single line, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, morgan stark - Freeform, rocket is mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 16:15:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18641620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ramble/pseuds/Queen
Summary: When Tony told her about his dream, Pepper had shrugged it off. She was under a lot of stress then, which she was sure was the cause of her ailments.She had no idea how much more stressful things could become, but now it's been a month since that day and she knows stress can't explain all of her ongoing symptoms. Luckily, Nat is there to help her out.





	You Were Right

**Author's Note:**

> Basically everything in this fic is a spoiler for the movie. Please only read if you have either seen the movie or are ok with spoilers. Thank you. 
> 
> Update 05/06/2019: Now that the spoiler ban has been lifted, I've updated the description and tags. The description probably gives most of the things I'm addressing away, but I'm still going to recommend not reading unless you've seen Endgame.

It was amazing how quickly the team was able to repair an alien space ship, though with the help of a girl who could fly to other planets in a matter of hours, and without a need for oxygen, to boot, perhaps Pepper shouldn't have been so surprised. Tony, on the other hand, had watched from the window, scoffing and grumbling as the raccoon darted into the back with a roll of duct tape.

He still funded the endeavor, though. The economy was in complete flux around them and the majority of businesses hadn't opened in weeks, but, so far, that had little effect on a multi-billionaire whose company was spearheading several worldwide endeavors alongside the leadership of most countries in a desperate effort to keep society as a whole from collapsing.

Of course, most of that was Pepper's doing, being the CEO. But Tony was as restless as always. He could barely stay on his feet, but he could barely stay off them.

The team had been working since late yesterday afternoon to get the ship ready for space travel. It had taken a bit of convincing to keep Carol from trying to handle it on her own. She was eager to get the job done, but she wasn't a fool. Despite her strengths, the recording Nebula had of the battle on Titan convinced her that it was a good idea to make sure she had backup.

Thankfully, Tony hadn't been awake to see that. Unthankfully, Pepper had. They'd tried so hard. They'd been so close. While Rocket had plenty to say about 'that idiot' who'd lost his temper, no one in the room could say they wouldn't lose their own tempers had they been there themselves. Even Rocket admitted he'd have clawed out the eyes.

The last vestiges of the fight had been the hardest. Pepper had excused herself to be sick. She wasn't sure if it was the sight of them losing or the forgotten dinner getting cold.

When Tony had finally woken up, it hadn't taken him long to figure out why they were fixing the ship. If the remaining heroes wanted to go get thrashed by Thanos, let them, he'd said. But he didn't want to just let them. Pepper knew Tony too well to take his word on things like this. The only thing keeping him from putting his suit on was that he'd shoved what was left of it onto Steve, who had, in turn, put it away and asked Friday not to tell Tony where it was.

He wasn't even strong enough to start putting together another one. He could barely lift his own arms. So instead he paced around, periodically collapsing and being dragged back to bed by someone. Usually Steve. But only when Tony wasn't aware of it. Otherwise, well. Tony was not handling it well. Not that anyone could, especially after what he'd been through, but he was scaring everyone. So they tried to minimize his interactions with things that caused him to lash out. And so Pepper gave him things to do, like figuring out infrastructure issues. So many planes and helicopters had gone down, and construction workers had disappeared while doing their jobs, and nuclear reactor workers had vanished. So far, Pepper had been helping the world put bandaids on everything. Wakanda's surviving scientists had been wonderful, but there were only so many of them. The whole planet needed long term solutions, and Tony was good at long term solutions.

So he sat by the window, scoffing, but working. It seemed to pacify him for the time being.

Pepper wasn't sure he'd ever rest now.

Four weeks ago, they had been in New York, talking about their wedding, and talking about his dreams. At the time, she hadn't thought anything about being a week late. The paparazzi had been causing a lot of stress, and Tony's nano-tech was annoying her, and they'd both been keeping an eye on the arms dealing situation since that sweet boy had dropped himself in the middle of it. Tony needed to be ready at a moment's notice in case some of society's worst decided to try to go after the guy who eliminated their best weapons supplier. Somehow, those things seemed easy now. She would give anything to go back to reporters chasing her around, trying to find out the details of her dress or the cake or which destination wedding they were obviously going to have. Hawaii? Too stereotypical. Japan? That'd be interesting. There had been polls all over asking 'where should Pepperoni get married?' Pepperoni. She both loved and loathed that name.

She'd been extremely stressed before. And she'd barely been eating, too. But still, two weeks late had always been the max. Even when Tony was missing. Even when she was a teen and irregularity was more normal. Not for her. She'd always been pretty close to being on schedule.

But now she was five weeks late.

But this wasn't a good time.

"I'm fine!" Tony hissed without looking at her. She'd been staring.

"Oh - no, I'm...Tony. I'm so happy you're home." His hands stopped sorting through the world's problems. She could almost see his mind focusing on her words.

"Pep." Now he looked. She smiled and waved. "You, uh, you didn't..."

"Didn't what?"

"In space, I made some, uhm, well, some recordings. Because, you know, I thought that, maybe, things wouldn't, or, rather, I wouldn't - "

"I listened." His arms dropped down to his sides as he took in a deep breath. "I'm glad you're here."

"You've said that.

"I mean it." She grabbed a chair and pulled it up right beside his. He let her link her fingers between his.

"I'm glad you're here." He let his head sink onto her shoulder. "He thinks he's a hero. He thinks that this is what the universe needs. He thinks he has all the answers, all figured out. That he's saved us. That he's seen the future and saved us from it."

"He's wrong."

"Pep...I...I...I couldn't..." He took another deep breath. Old Tony was kicking in, burying all the things that broke him. Truthfully, most of them had been doing that. Thor had barely spoken a word over the last four weeks. Most of those words had been spoken to Carol and Rocket as they planned their trip. Tony was, at least, doing slightly better than Thor since at least he kept trying to process what had happened. But he still buried it, and quickly shifted gears. Given his physical condition, that was probably for the best at the moment. "I've put together a plan for America's nuclear problem. If they follow it, we could have a grid more like the tower, but for the whole country. Since it functions mostly on its own, that will free up a lot of people for other jobs that need done, and at least we won't have an energy crisis on top of everything else. The standard disaster relief methods that they've been using so far isn't going to work long term, since those plans are for problems of a much smaller scale. So I've been working on a more long-term overall solution, once we have the nuclear armageddon problem handled. Arbor Day is about to become our most important holiday. I have a virtual meeting in a few hours with what's left of the government and whatever scientists they could find."

"You're amazing. I'm also proud to report that the initiative to make sure all surviving children are safe and accounted for is well underway. We have a lot of good people stepping up to make sure the kids are getting everything they need. Including emotional support."

"Good, good."

He wasn't looking at his energy plan, or even his long-term plan to save the planet overall. He was looking at census list for New York. She could see the files he'd pulled - May Parker, missing. Ned Leeds, missing. Harold Hogan, missing. Peter's principal was accounted for, though. The school was shut down for the time being, but they would need to be informed of which students couldn't return. This time, Pepper took the deep breath.

"You ok?" He noticed. She let the breath out.

"I'm...I have you." His arm wormed its way around her waist. With his free hand, he turned off the display, leaving only the view of the sunset and the Benetar.

The blue girl, Nebula, had filled them in on where he'd been and what had happened. She seemed to understand that there were deep emotions involved with everything she was saying, but she also seemed to lack an understanding of how to process any of those feelings. But she cared. Pepper could tell from the sensitive way she'd chosen her words. Pepper wanted to hug her, but she wasn't sure if that would be appropriate. Her 'father' had left scars on her mind. Pepper knew what that was like. But now Nebula had found a family that was ready to take care of her, if she would let them. Tony had already assigned her a room, should she need privacy or rest. Without discussion, he'd accepted her into the Avengers.

While Pepper agreed, she worried that he was projecting onto her. Nebula was fully grown, as far as Pepper could tell, but, in many ways, she was still a child in need of support. And Tony wanted to support someone.

But he was the person who most needed his support right now.

"Pepper?" Nat interrupted. Right, she'd asked Nat to - "Sorry, I don't mean to - I uhm, I got your..." She paused, looking Tony over. He didn't look at her. They knew he placed a lot of blame on Steve, but she wasn't much farther down on his list. The order of blame seemed to go: Tony, Steve, Thanos, then some guy named Stephen Strange. He hadn't explained who that man was, and research showed that he had been a surgeon who'd disappeared a few years ago, but apparently he was back, and important. After Strange, she knew he blamed her, for 'changing sides' on him. For legitimizing Steve's behavior. For helping him shatter their team. She wouldn't apologize, either, because both sides had been wrong in some ways, and both sides had been right in other ways, and she'd done the right thing at the time. "It's girl stuff," was all she could really muster.

"Oh, right!" Pepper said. "I really need this."

"Go, go go go, please," Tony dismissed her. He was much more practical than many other men she'd met, but that didn't mean he liked thinking about 'girl stuff' any more than they did. She was just proud that he wasn't bothered by grabbing her some when she needed it. Without any fumbling or mumbling or grumbling, too.

Of course, this wasn't that sort of girl stuff.

"How did you find an open store?" Pepper whispered as they left Tony to his scoffing. Apparently the raccoon was doing something else that offended him now.

"I didn't."

"Nat-"

"Pepper. This can't wait for the stores to open again. And yes, I double checked the expiration dates to make sure I got a newer box. And I got four different kinds so you can pick which one you like best."

"Thank you." Pepper let her hand lift and rest on Nat's shoulder. "Really."

"Hey, looks like I'm the best thief left on the team, so how could I say no?" She gave her friend a little elbow bump. "Plus, I'm having a hard time waiting for them to finish."

"I'm just worried they're rushing it and you'll be trapped out there."

"You know, I thought about that, but we do have Carol."

"That's true. If all else fails, she can tow you back home...But I know you'd still go, even if you didn't have her."

"Of course we would." They eyes turned back briefly in the direction they'd left Tony.

"No matter what he says, he would come, too. If he could." Pepper's hands balled up into light fists. "I'm worried he might still try."

"Bruce changed the access codes to the labs and workshops, just in case. But...if this is real, then - "

"He wouldn't leave us." Without her consent, her hand found its way to her belly. Us was such a strong word. She'd been avoiding it.

Nat pushed the bag into her arms and spun her towards the bathroom. When the door clicked shut, she leaned against the wall, keeping an eye out for the others and shooing them along as they came by. Bruce passed through to check on the planet's angriest patient, Nebula and Rocket came by to find where they might be able to get some part or another. Steve and Rhodey came back from their quick trip to help the city workers get the streets clear and safe again. The room up the hall got really quiet when he got back.

Thor brought food. Very smelly food.

Nat let out a sigh as she heard Pepper hurl after he passed. She rapped gently on the door. "How's it going?"

The door clicked open, though Pepper was on the floor. "Nat, I...it's...I tried all four."

"I heard." She held out her hand and helped her friend up. It took a moment, but Pepper pulled herself together. "Should I make him come to you?"

"No, no, not in his condition. I'll be ok."

"Thor's fish fry is still in there. And I'm pretty sure he brought enough for everyone." Pepper's nose wrinkled at the thought, but she pushed forward anyway. Tony was not going to be taking care of himself. That was just never going to happen. That wasn't something Tony did, no matter how badly he needed to. He thought about the world around him, and he found ways to avoid taking care of himself, but he rarely took a moment to do what was best for himself. It had taken a great deal of willpower and assurance and a solid plan among all of his friends for him to let someone operate on his heart and put him out of commission for a couple of months as he healed.

No, he needed to stay put, right where he was. If he wasn't going to support himself, then she was going to support him until he could.

Nat wasn't wrong, of course, about the fish fry. Some of the people had settled into eating while Steve tried to get everyone to actually get some rest. While they all wanted to fight Thanos, they really shouldn't do that after not having slept in over 24 hours. They'd seen what he was capable of. Bruce was trying to coax Tony back to bed so he could at least be well-rested for his attempts to save the planet from the ground. Tony wasn't having it, and Steve was trying to ignore it so that they didn't fight again and so Tony didn't collapse again. That was the exact opposite of his healing plan.

Pepper put a hand over her mouth, crossed the room, grabbed Tony by his wheelchair, and all but dragged him back to his bed.

"Woah, woah, hey, Pep!"

"You're going to bed."

"But-"

"No." For a moment, the look on his face reflected happier times. Less emotional times, when his quips came from a place of fun and not anger. "I need you to take care of yourself. I know you want to fix things, and I know there's a lot that needs fixed, but I need you, too. Can you take care of yourself, for me?" Bruce tried his hardest to not be an uncomfortable third party and Nat tried to draw the attention of everyone else to set up a schedule, or something, anything to give them a plan to follow so they'd stop arguing.

"Pep, I'm fine."

"You almost died."

"Yeah, well, that's happened before. I'm awake, I can't sleep, so I'll be - "

"Bruce has meds for that."

"But then I won't be awake for my meeting."

"Then I'll be there in your place."

"But-"

"I know all of your passwords and how to navigate your way too complicated attempts at organizing information and I am a very quick study. I can definitely handle the meeting for you."

"Pep, I'm fine, really. I'm 100% better than I was yesterday."

"Considering how bad your condition is right now, I'm sure that's true. But you're still not even close to being even close to healthy."

"I've been through worse. My heart didn't need a battery this time."

"Tony! This is not a debate. You were right, ok? And now I need you to take care of yourself because I am going to need you to get better really fast so that you can help me take care of, well, everything."

"Ok, ok. Ok." He paused long enough to get into his designated medical bed. Then he said the words she knew were coming. "You know, I'm right about a lot of things, what was I right about this time?"

Pepper's eyes darted up to Bruce as he changed the IV and laid out the meds. She glanced through the glass to their team as the majority of them failed to hide their own worried glances. "I didn't check sooner because, well, there's a lot going on and I sort of lost track of time, I kept saying I'd go check tomorrow and then tomorrow came and there was still more stuff to do so I'd plan to do it the next day, but-"

"Pep."

"Right. Tony, Nat wasn't out today picking up the kind of girl stuff you thought I asked her to get. She's been helping me these last couple of weeks with, well, morning sickness. All day long. Apparently, Morgan hates everything, except cheeseburgers. I haven't eaten anything other than cheeseburgers in almost three weeks now and its starting to get really old." She saw Bruce's hands freeze for just a moment. "So, I _need_ you to take care of yourself, ok? Because we have a lot to do. For the world, and for our baby. Can you do that?"

Tony's science brother sped up his process, making sure the little pills and a glass of water were set out and the IV was still secure, despite Tony's repeated fits of rage that led him to try to rip it out. They'd wrapped his arm pretty thoroughly to make sure that didn't happen since Tony bleeding out was very low on the list of things they wanted to deal with.

"I - for...Yeah. I can do that."

"Good." As she leaned down to kiss him, Bruce made a beeline for the others.

"How'd he take the news?" Nat asked, a twinkle in her eye.

"How'd he - good, I think?" She could see the way his mind caught up with the knowledge that had just been dumped on him written all over his face. "Right, she did say you'd been helping her. H-how did we not notice?"

"No offense, but we're mostly a group of men who have never even come close to maybe having children. I know what to look for because I was taught what to look for. How many of you paid attention in sex ed? Or even _had_ sex ed?" Her eyes turned pointedly to Steve with those words. "And while I'm sure Carol definitely got the talk and may have even paid attention, she's also not exactly been on base much."

"Wait wait, what are we talking about?" Rhodey tried to clarify.

"Is Pepper..." Steve asked, but politely tried to trail off. Nat let it pass, since he had come from an older era when the word 'pregnancy' was much more profane than it was now. Even if he did his best to fit into their world, there were still some cultural norms he had yet to encounter.

"She's already picked out a name," Bruce said. "Morgan?"

"Tony picked it," Nat told them. "Before everything, he had a dream where they had a kid named Morgan. Pepper told me that she didn't think much of it at the time. But she has four little plus signs, or whatever, proving Tony was right." A silence fell over the group. Even Rocket waved away Nebula as she tried to question the 'plus signs.' 

"So, to be clear, you do like the name Morgan?" Tony whispered.

"It grew on me. For a boy or a girl. Morgan Stark has a really nice sound."

"So does Morgan Potts."

"True. But Morgan Potts-Stark and Morgan Stark-Potts are kind of weird." 

In that moment, she saw Tony smile for the first time since he'd come home. In that moment, everyone had a small reason to smile. Whatever happened tomorrow, whatever came beyond tomorrow, tonight they had this little happiness.

**Author's Note:**

> I realized as I was writing this that it's most likely that Morgan was conceived after the snap, hence why Tony didn't want to reset the timeline (as Morgan wouldn't exist if they did that, and he doesn't want his baby to not exist), but it's also possible he doesn't want to rob her/re-do her first few years, so I think this story still works within the existing continuity. Plus, I really just needed to feel a little better after how Endgame ended. So happy moments it is.


End file.
